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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

882 /10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH--NOT TO

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bodies of rioters were scattered. I was patrolling the streets and established order until 3.0. Unfortunately, with even this force of police it was impossible to make any arrests.

10. I am convinced in my own mind that I could not have with success inter- fered earlier with the small force (four men) at my disposal. Owing to the shape of Gampola and the four cross streets, so small a party, even if firing ball, would have inevitably been taken in the rear by the crowds in the converging streets.

11. I have this morning inspected the damage done. I trust that Government will see it fit to compensate those Moor traders whose stock-in-trade has been destroyed. I have ordered the Ratemahatmaya to obtain names and estimates of damages in all cases. The damages as it at present appears are as follows:

SIR,

Old Nuwara Eliya Street and Kandy Street.-Eighteen boutiques and houses

sacked.

Kadugannawa Road. One boutique.

New Nuwara Eliya Street.-Nine boutiques and houses. Ambagamuwa Street.-Twenty-four houses and boutiques.

The mosque.Onter wall destroyed and interior fittings smashed. One minaret

pulled down.

Kirapane (quarter-mile outside Gampola).-Eight boutiques sacked and the

mosque slightly damaged.

Sinhayapitiya (one mile from Gampola).-Nine boutiques sacked. The Police Inspector has, however, counted a total of sixty buildings sacked in Gampola.

12. One Sinhalese man is in hospital, shot through the leg by a Mohammedan.

Enclosure 2 in No. 12.

am, &c.

J. R. WALTERS,

Police Magistrate.

Police Court, Gampola, 2nd June, 1915. Gampola Riots.

In continuation of my report of 31st May, I have the honour to report that Twenty-seven Mr. Stevenson arrived at 10 a.m. on 31st May with five Punjabis. special constables were appointed, including twelve Ceylon Planters' Rifle Corps and Ceylon Mounted Rifles, who arrived at 5 p.m.

2. The town was patrolled by motor cyclists. I posted pickets on all rounds to turn back those entering the town during the day. The Punjabis were reinforced by ten more men by 9.5 p.m. train. Captain Johnson, Ceylon Mounted Rifles, took charge of the Ceylon Planters' Rifle Corps patrols. The night of the 81st passed off peacefully, and quiet has been entirely restored.

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3. I took proceedings on 31st against nineteen accuseds; thirteen of them were arrested on the 31st June [May], being the ringleaders in the riot, and were remanded to Kandy jail, being unable to give bail in Rs.10,000 cash demanded. Their imprisonment has considerably cleared the air. They include some of the most i influential people in the town: Hettihewage Charles de Silva and his two brothers, Dissanayaka, S.P.C.A. Inspector, the Registrar of marriages, births, and deaths. The whole outbreak appears to have been carefully arranged and planned before- hand; the work of the rioters was directed and controlled throughout. Mr. Steven- son, with police constables and Punjabis, proceeded to Nawalapitiya on 31st, night. No disturbance has occurred there. Unfortunately the rioters attacked Pussellawa on that night, but the damage done there was not considerable. The Police Sergeant was wounded by a shot said to have been fired by a local planter. The Poopooressa kaddies were also destroyed twelve miles from here.

4. Yesterday, 1st June, passed off quietly. Confidence has been re-established. Boutiques again opened and Moorish traders have brought back their women and children. I had the town picketed, however, from 6.0 to 12.0 midnight, by twenty special constables, including six Ceylon Planters' Rifle Corps. Five Punjabis were despatched to Pussellawa, where a further disturbance was feared, Captain Johnson,

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Ceylon Mounted Rifles, being in charge. Nothing occurred there. and Mr. Stevenson motored there during the evening.

The Sinhalese fear reprisals from the Moors, but I do not anticipate further disturbances.

The Honourable

The Government Agent,

Central Province.

31541/8

No. 13.

I am, &c.,

J. R. WALTERS,

Police Magistrate.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 9th July, 1915.)

(Confidential.)

SIR,

The Queen's House, Colombo, Ceylon, 18th June, 1915. A casual delay in the departure of this week's mail enables me to continue my Confidential despatch of the 16th June,* with particular reference to the last paragraph thereof, in which I had the honour to intimate that, after conferring with the Officer Commanding the Troops, I should be in a position to address you further on the subject of the proposed withdrawal of 200 Punjabis from Ceylon on the 29th June for service with the British forces in France.

2. From my telegrams of 4th, 5th and 9th June,t you were aware of the views which I hold as regards the gravity of the local situation arising from the wide- spread outbreaks of Sinhalese animosity against Mohammedans views which I have set forth at some length in my Confidential despatch of the 15th June, which will reach you by this mail. From the purely local point of view, I do not hesitate to say that, alike to inspire confidence in the reduced European community and to punish guilty persons with a promptitude and thoroughness which will minimize the danger of later and better organized outbreaks, my proposals have been moderate. I asked originally for the temporary services of an additional battalion from India and subsequently reduced my request to one for the temporary retention here of the 200 Punjabis till after August (by which time I hoped the work of the special com- missions and the courts martial would practically be at an end).

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9. Your telegram of 15th June (1)§ informed me that the Army Council repre- sented the need for the Punjabi draft on the Continent, and (2) added an expression your own hope that, by the employment of local Volunteer forces, I should be able to dispense with the services of the additional battalion from India for which I had originally asked.

4. As regards the latter anticipation regarding Volunteers, I desire to point out that, while this has been and can be done in Colombo itself by the garrison (includ- ing Ceylon Artillery Volunteers and the European Town Guard of 300 men, together with the local company of Ceylon Planters' Rifle Corps, etc.) for the pur- poses of repelling attack on this city, and while upcountry every single European Volunteer (I believe) has promptly and efficiently turned out to aid in quelling the local riots which spread like wildfire through villages and townships where Moham- medans were in a minority, yet the essential fact remains that so large is the rioting area to be investigated that our sparse European population could not effectively cover it with the impressive promptitude and display of force which policy demands in dealing with Orientals; nor, if they could so cover the area, could they be spared from their own supervising work without bringing the country to a standstill, both an estates upcountry and in the mercantile community centred in Colombo, with every prospect of protest and outcry from all European interests both here and in London. As I indicated in paragraph 7 of my Confidential despatch of 7th June,]] there was alarm expressed in the Fort with regard to the continuous employment of the Town Guard even for the four days at the beginning of this month when riot- ing in Colombo was being put down with their valued aid. It is out of the question to take either planters off their estates or the Town Guard out of Colombo for the all-important work of the special commissions and their series of local assizes.

** No. 12. † 26507, 26172, 26689, not printed. No. 11. § 27182, not printed. # No. 9.